


The Badger

by bluebellsandcocklesshells



Category: Supernatural
Genre: College AU, M/M, camp counselors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 08:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6747184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebellsandcocklesshells/pseuds/bluebellsandcocklesshells





	The Badger

Castiel started awake, his heart pounding, breathing erratic.  There was something outside the cabin.  Or someone.  It was still and silent and black as pitch out in the woods of West Virginia.  He was secluded and far from home and there was someone outside the door.  Or something.  He swung his feet out of the bunk bed, and grabbed the flashlight from where it was hanging on a nail in the wall.  He tiptoed quietly and carefully across the floor toward the door in the dark, not wanting to use the flashlight just yet.  The campers around him were sleeping soundly, unaware of the creeping menace outside.  Warily, heart in his throat, he reached a hand for the latch to the cabin door—slowly, slowly…

A shriek pierced the quiet of the night and the dozen campers in the cabin started awake, some screaming in alarm and adding to the chaos.  Castiel threw the door open, turning on the flashlight and squinting against the light.  He still managed to see Danny Kellerman, the youngest of his charges, standing just outside the door, crying hysterically while a dark wet patch discolored the front of his pajama bottoms.

The laughter and whooping of a pack of delinquents disappearing into the woods drew Cas’ attention toward the Badgers’ cabin.  He knelt in front of Danny quickly to let the little boy know he was there and everything was okay.  Then he stood up and yelled, “Dean Winchester!”

From farther away he heard the group of kids let out teasing sounds as they reveled over the fact that their counselor was going to get in trouble.

Cas knelt in front of Danny again and wiped his tears from his cheeks.

“Danny, why were you out here alone?”

“I-I—” the little boy hiccupped with his distress.  “I had to go to the bathroom.”

“You know you’re only supposed to go with a buddy.”

“Ev’ryone was asleep.”

“It’s okay to wake me up if you have to go.  Okay?”

Danny nodded, still crying but softer now.

Cas glanced back at the door and saw several faces peering cautiously out of the relative safety of the cabin.

“Go on back to bed,” Cas said.  “Everything is okay.  We’ve got swimming tomorrow, so everyone needs to get a good night’s sleep.”

The boys shuffled back inside, but he could tell that they were jumpy, and weary from being jumpy.  The Badgers had terrorized the Chipmunks _at least_ twice a week for the past six weeks.  Grumbling about the group of hoodlums—and most of all their irresponsible asshole of a counselor—Cas hurried inside to get a clean pair of underwear and pajamas for Danny, and then led him to the showers to clean him up.

As he walked the exhausted boy back to their cabin, he saw a piece of burlap laying not too far from the scene of the scaring.  He passed it without drawing attention to it for Danny’s sake, and got the boy tucked into bed.  He waited several minutes to make sure everyone was sound asleep, and then he crept outside the cabin.  He wasn’t supposed to leave his campers alone, but this would only take five minutes.

Cas picked up the piece of burlap, which laid a couple of feet from the door and turned on the flashlight.  It had been cut from a large bag of potatoes and gruesomely decorated with bloodshot eyes and bloody teeth.  In the light of day it would probably look ridiculous, but in the dead of night with the weak illumination of a cheap flashlight it was easy to see why it would be terrifying to a seven year old.

Cas tromped through the worn trail in the woods that led from the Chipmunks’ cabin to the Badger’s cabin.  There were twelve cabins all in the same relatively small space.  The trees were dense enough that only thirty yards or so between clearings gave the illusion of isolation.  When he came out on the other side, he saw the Badgers’ counselor waiting for him on a large stump about fifteen yards from the cabin.  Inside the cabin were the shushed whispers and giggling of kids trying to be quiet as they pretended to be asleep but were actually goofing off.

Castiel stopped a couple feet in front of Dean.  He crossed his arms in an annoyed stance, but kept the flashlight facing forward.  Dean’s flashlight was very large and sitting upright on the stump next to him, highlighting one half of his body.  Even in the dark he was pretty and it was kind of unfair.

“Heya, Cas.”

“Shut up, you dillweed.  What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Lighten up.  It’s just a little fun.”

“A little fun?  Terrorizing a bunch of children and making a seven year old wet his pants is fun?”

“He wet his pants?” Dean asked with a chuckle, and then sobered immediately when he saw Castiel’s unamused expression.  He shrugged.  “My kids are kids too.  It’s what they do.”

“Your kids are twelve, Dean.  Twelve years old and harassing a bunch of little boys for no reason.  This is the third time this week and it’s only Wednesday.  I’ve been here six weeks putting up with your bullshit, and I’d appreciate it if my kids could spend the last two weeks in peace.  You’ve got to get your kids under control.  Or at least find a new victim,” Castiel muttered.  “Can’t you go after one of the girls’ cabins?”

“Yeah, right.  All the girl counselors are a bunch of snitches.”

“Well, so am I,” Castiel said.  “I’ve had it.  Do it again and I’m reporting you.”

“Come on, dude.”

“No!  Don’t act like I’m overreacting.  These kids come here to have fun, but they’re sleep deprived and nervous and can’t enjoy their daytime activities.  Your kids are acting like dicks.  And it’s no surprise when they have you for a role model.”

Dean’s expression finally lost its humor.  “My kids aren’t dicks.”

“Yes, they are.  Tell your campers to stop creeping around at night, or I’ll make you regret it.”

Usually at this point, with a line like that, Dean would throw out some sort of double entendre and wink or waggle his eyebrows to get Cas to blush.  This time though, his face remained hard and unhappy.  Good.  Maybe Castiel was finally getting his point across.

“Do we understand each other?” Castiel asked.

“Yeah, Cas.  I understand.  No more nighttime raids.”

Cas turned on his heel and stomped back through the woods.  He was tired and grumpy and not going to get a lot of sleep tonight and then he still had to act cheerful in the morning.

Dean Winchester was the highlight and the bane of his summers.  Thank goodness they lived two thousand miles apart.  Of course, even with the distance and their (usually) friendly rivalry, he was Castiel’s oldest friend.  They met at Camp Arrowhead thirteen years ago when they’d been assigned to the 7-8 year old cabin—the Chipmunks.  They’d become fast friends, which was easily renewed every summer even though they never talked once they left camp.  At least until after they’d had their turn in the Badgers’ 11-12 year old cabin.  After that they’d been allowed to have email addresses and corresponded three or four times during the year.

After their last stint in the Screech Owls cabin as 17-18 year olds, they’d realized their friendship might completely dissipate if they thought they were never going to see each other again.  So, they’d both applied to be counselors on a whim to have a reason to continue to see each other every summer.  This was their fourth and final year of eligibility to be a counselor.  They would be seniors in college in the fall and their long tenure with Camp Arrowhead would officially be over.  
Cas wondered if that meant their friendship would be over as well.  They didn’t have much in common and rarely had much to say to each other despite upping their communications to about once a month since starting high school.  They got along well at camp, but that was because it was an equalizer.  There was only so much they could do out in the woods, and liking archery more than canoeing wasn’t the same difference as liking vintage cars versus creative writing and poetry.

Of course at this point, Cas was annoyed with who Dean was at camp too.  Maybe they’d just outgrown each other.  It was clear they never would have been friends or even talked to each other if they had gone to the same high school.  Now that camp was ending permanently, he supposed that meant their friendship would end with it.  It was a good thing they’d only ever been friends and not developed crushes on each other or let their flirty banter turn serious.

Castiel shook himself as he climbed back into bed.  He didn’t want to think about the sad things this last summer meant.  He had two more weeks at Camp Arrowhead and he intended to enjoy them.

~~~

Castiel did manage to enjoy himself—for the next two days.  The Badgers either straightened up their act or found new victims because the Chipmunks got two blissful nights of uninterrupted sleep.  It was the third day of their swimming unit and Cas was sunning himself on the short, rickety dock that projected a few yards out into splendid Lake Seneca.  His feet dangled into the cool water which was a kind of muddy brown color, but sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight.  The Chipmunks and the Squirrels, the 7-8 year old girls, were splashing around in the roped off shallow end near the dock.  Cas and the girls’ counselor, Meg, were keeping a close eye on them all even though the water wasn’t quite three feet deep.

“So, have the Badgers continued their nightly raids?” Meg asked, pulling on the ends of her long-sleeved T-shirt.

She hated getting tanned, so she always wore long pants and long-sleeved shirts when her campers were going to spend an exceptionally long time in the sun, which was basically every day.  How she survived all summer in 80-90 degree weather in such warm clothes baffled Castiel.  He was currently feeling a little overly hot and he was in nothing but swim trunks.

“Not for the past couple of nights.  I hope Dean is teaching them that there is a line that can be crossed into asshole-country.”

“Well, seeing as how he lives there,” Meg said, “it’s hard to believe he knows where the line is.”

“Oh, he knows where it is,” Cas said, trying to hide his frown.  It was one thing for him to call Dean an asshole, but he didn’t like it when other people did.  Especially since Meg probably meant it.  She and Dean had never gotten along well, even when they’d been campers themselves.

Meg sat up suddenly and squinted across the lake.  “Speaking of the Badg-tards, where are they?”

“They’re canoeing on the other side of the lake.”

“They were, but I can’t see their boats anymore.”

“They probably went toward the other arm.”

“That fast?  They were way over there a second ago.”

Cas scanned the lake.  The surface was calm and empty except for a few out of season ducks paddling off to their left.  Dean and the Badgers had been over by the boat house, getting their equipment out just a few minutes ago.  It would be difficult for adults to paddle all the way to the branching arm of the lake that quickly let alone a bunch of unruly kids.  Then he noticed something moving by the rotten pile of logs and debris that had been growing steadily larger every year.  It demarked the other side of the shallow swimming area, and most everyone stayed clear of it for fear of the creepy-crawlies that probably lived in it.  It was gross and smelly and no one liked to go near it—which was why it was a perfect ambush location.

Castiel got to his feet but before he could (calmly) call his kids closer to him and Meg on the dock, from out of the muck and the water rose a terrifying group of lake monsters.  They were covered head to toe in mud and lake scum and startled even Castiel for a moment.  They were moaning and flopping forward like zombies.  The Chipmunks and the Squirrels screamed and screeched and thrashed and struggled to get out of the water.  Meg and Cas ran off the dock and splashed down into the water, gathering their charges and helping them out of the lake.

Several of the children were crying and saying they wanted to go home and one girl had picked up a stick and was about to wade back in and attack the monsters.  Cas snatched her up before she could get too far and deposited her back on shore.  Then he spotted a monster that was taller than all the others.  He marched out into the water, shoving over Badgers as he went.  They squawked and disappeared under the water with a gurgle each time.  Castiel stopped in front of Dean—his green eyes bright and easily recognizable through the layer of mud on his face.

“Grr,” Dean said with a weak laugh.  “Pretty impressive stealth, huh?  I feel like they ought to give out merit badges here.”

“ _Merit_ badges.  To your hoodlums.”

“Kids having fun.”

“Do _they_ look like they’re having fun?” Cas asked, sweeping a hand back toward the shore where no less than eight children were still crying.

Dean finally looked a little guilty.

“You said you were going to leave them alone,” Castiel said, his voice edging on harsh.

“I said I would stop the night raids.  This is the daytime.”

Castiel glared at him, and then reached out with both hands and shoved his head under the water.  He turned and sloshed away, satisfied to hear Dean coughing and spluttering when he surfaced behind him.  Cas and Meg rounded up their campers and said they were going to go get ice cream and then do some arts and crafts.  The promise of ice cream got all but a couple to forget their tears, and by the time they’d finished their treats and were making bird houses out of popsicle sticks, even Danny was smiling again.

That night it took a long time to get the kids calm and settled enough to go to bed.  During the night, one child woke up from a nightmare about lake monsters coming out of the water and stalking him to the cabin.  Castiel was furious with Dean and decided he was going to report him to the camp managers the very next morning.

~~~

As Castiel made his way down the trail that led to the cabins the owners of the camp stayed in, he met Benny who was coming back from that direction.  Castiel thought Benny was a good guy and his Creole accent made the kids giggle, but he’d always just rubbed Cas the wrong way for some reason.  Dean seemed to like him though.  If Dean wasn’t with Cas, he was with Benny, which meant Benny was taking up time Dean could be with Cas.  At least that’s how he’d felt as a ten year old.  As they’d gotten older he’d become less possessive of his camp friend.  Mostly.

“Hey, Benny.  Everything okay?”

“Yeah.  Had a kid get stung by a bee.  He’s allergic, but fortunately his Epi-Pen saved him.  Management still thought it was best that he go home, so I just dropped him off with his stuff.  Nancy is going to take him to the airport.”

“Ah.  That’s a shame.  I’m glad he’s okay though.”

“How about you?  Why are you taking the long walk to the Chaperones?”  Benny used the term the counselors used to refer to the managers.

Castiel hesitated.  He was certain Benny would run off and tell Dean what he was doing, but once he got in trouble it wouldn’t be hard to figure out who had snitched on him.  Unless he thought it was Meg.  Castiel decided that he was going to own this one, Dean’s hurt feelings be damned.

“Dean and his hellions have been terrorizing my campers, and—”

“Oh, you too, huh?”

Castiel was surprised by Benny’s comment.  “The Badgers have gone after the Finches too?”

“Not just the Finches, but the Wrens and the Rabbits and the Eagles—even the Bucks and the Does.”

“They went after older kids?  That’s ballsy.”

“That’s Dean Winchester.  Everyone is a little steamed, but…we’re not gonna nark on him,” Benny said with disdain in his voice.

Castiel scowled.  “He’s giving my kids nightmares.  And one of them has started wetting the bed because he’s too scared to get up at night to go to the bathroom.  I’ve asked him to stop, and he won’t.”

“So?  Don’t rat ‘im out.  Just get even.”

Castiel opened his mouth to argue—just on principle—but then processed Benny’s words.  He crossed his arms.  “How?”

“I’ve been talking with some of the other counselors.  We’re going to _Parent Trap_ them.”

Castiel shook his head.  “Are all their parents divorced?”

“No, you crazy bug.  The camp scene in the beginning—where the girls booby trap their enemies’ cabin while they’re sleeping.”

“Oh…” Castiel trailed off, imagining Dean and his minions trapped in string and covered in a sticky mess.  “That…could be interesting.”

“Atta boy.  Come back with me.  Trust me.  This will get him better than getting him reprimanded.  He don’t much mind stuff like that anyway.”

~~~

Castiel met up with the other counselors several times for the rest of the week as they planned their attack.  They decided to do it on Saturday night so that they would have time to round up their own campers to come wait outside the cabin and listen to the mayhem that would surely take place inside.  Sundays were the only days they were allowed to sleep in past 7:30, and it would be the last week of camp so it was their only shot.

The counselors didn’t tell the kids about their plan, certain it would get leaked otherwise.  The week progressed as usual with the Badgers continuing their reign of terror.  Then on Saturday night, the counselors met up outside the Badgers’ cabin at two o’clock in the morning.  Even this late they could hear that the Badgers were still awake and rowdy even though there was a strict 10:00pm lights out policy.  Most of the counselors let this slide from time to time, after all the kids were usually out of it by eight anyway after long, active days, but 2:00am was ridiculous.  It was twenty minutes before the noises died down, and then another fifteen before they felt they could sneak in to begin their plan.

They worked as quickly and silently as they could.  Fortunately there were no light sleepers amongst the Badgers and with ten of them working—Kevin was standing as lookout since the camp owners had been known in the past to do checks in the middle of the night to make sure everything was okay—they were able to finish their sabotages quickly and efficiently.  A couple of them got stuck on the far side of the cabin and had to secret spy their way through the multitude of crisscrossed strings like they were laser beam alarms.

It was just past 3:00am when they all sneaked back out of the Badgers’ cabin.  The inside looked like a spider web of white string.  Honey and jam had been poured around the edges of their mattresses and the floor.  Grass and leaves had been bundled on the strings so that when they were disturbed, the sticky campers would get covered in the debris.  Buckets of water had been placed in strategic locations and would tip over at the slightest pressure on the string holding them back.  Directly over Dean’s head was an entire jar of honey that Cas had rigged himself.  He could hardly wait for morning.

By 7:30, Cas and the other counselors had managed to drag their grumbling, grumpy campers into the Badgers’ clearing with the promise that getting up early on their last morning to sleep in would be totally worth it.  After about ten minutes, and several children began to get restless, one of the counselors blew on a bugle.  The notes broke the quiet stillness of the morning, and from inside the cabin the first murmur of bewilderment could be heard.  And then the confused yelling started, followed by shouts of surprise and disgust.  Loud thumping could be heard followed by the splashing of water and an undignified shriek.

Everyone outside was laughing giddily, anxious to see what it looked like on the inside.  Finally, the door to the cabin opened and the first of the campers spilled out.  Their audience started hooting and hollering and laughing, and the Badgers all turned bright red as some were only in their underwear and all were covered in sticky jam and honey and leaves and grass and had to literally fight their way through the string trap to get outside.

Dean was the last one out and Castiel started laughing so hard he began crying.  Dean was soaked through—his white T-shirt leaving nothing to the imagination.  Fortunately he was wearing dark colored boxers or the whole thing would have turned pornographic very quickly.  His head had been spared the water, which was actually a bad thing in his case as that left the blobs of honey in his hair and oozing over his features completely intact.

Dean’s eyes were open wide with shock as he took in the huge crowd of campers and counselors laughing their asses off at him and his troublemakers.  For a moment, Cas was worried that he was actually pissed, but then he let out a huff of laughter and smiled with a shake of his head.  He held up his hands and quieted everyone down.

“Alright, alright.  You got us.  And we deserved it.”

“Hey,” one of the Badgers complained softly.

“But you should have waited until the last day because there’s still a whole week of camp left.”

The Badgers snickered evilly and Dean looked right at Cas and gave him a wink.

“Well, damn,” Benny said next to him.  “I think we’ve poked the bear.”

“You mean the badger,” Meg said on his other side.

Castiel just stared Dean down, unafraid of whatever deviousness he might have planned.  Dean ordered his charges back into the cabin to clean up and told them they could take showers after since they would all just get sticky while cleaning anyway.  They whined loudly, but all moved to obey immediately.  If nothing else, it was impressive how much respect Dean had earned from his kids because they certainly didn’t fear him.

The other counselors shooed their kids off to the mess hall and Castiel spotted Dean walking through a trail in the woods, probably toward the showers.  He asked Kevin to watch over his kids for a few minutes and jogged after Dean down the path.  He found him inside the shower house, making a face as he swiped some honey off his cheek.

“Tsk, tsk,” Castiel said, startling Dean as he spun around with a soft gasp.  “Making your campers do all the clean up?  You’re the one who brought this on them.”

“Perks of being the adult,” Dean said.

Cas grinned and stepped close to catch a bit honey near Dean’s eye on his finger.  “Don’t look like much of an adult,” he replied.  He put his finger in his mouth and sucked off the honey.  Then his smile faltered as he noticed something change in Dean’s expression.  He wasn’t sure what had changed, he just knew that he looked he different.

Then Dean crowded him against the wall, catching his hands with his sticky fingers and pinning them up by his head.  Dean’s kiss was sweet—and not just from the honey.  Though that did make the kiss quite pleasant as they licked and sucked the sweet stuff off each other’s lips.  Cas tugged lightly on his hands, he wanted to touch Dean, but his friend wouldn’t let him move.  Dean stepped closer, close enough to feel each other’s heat, but he didn’t quite press their bodies together, keeping the whole thing fairly chaste.  Or mostly—tongues were getting involved and Cas was licking his way down Dean’s jaw, gathering more honey so that when he returned to Dean’s lips they could have more sticky, sugary kisses.

When at last Dean pulled back from Castiel and released his hands, Castiel understood that he was in love with Dean—and had been for some years.  He stepped forward and took Dean’s sticky face in his hands.  He kissed him again and Dean’s hands went to his waist, pausing to allow the kiss for a moment, and then pushed him back gently.

“I gotta get cleaned up and get back to the cabin,” Dean murmured, his lips traipsing over Castiel’s cheek.  “Can’t leave them unattended for too long.”

Castiel snorted.  “I believe that.”

Dean pulled back and smiled at him.  “We’re probably going to be late for breakfast, but save me a seat at lunch?”

“Okay.”

Dean pecked him on the lips and then turned and shucked his underclothes with no shame as he walked into one of the shower stalls.  Castiel fled the bathroom, feeling like he must be beet red.  He pulled up sharply when he saw Danny standing outside the hut.

“Danny, what are you doing here?  Kevin was taking you all to the mess hall.”

“You were kissing Mr. Dean,” Danny whispered in that innocently scandalized way that only children could.

Cas blushed harder and cleared his throat.  “Um.  Yes.”

“Aren’t you scared of him?”

Cas smiled and took Danny’s hand in his.  He got the child to start moving down the trail toward the mess hall.

“Nah.  He’s not so bad.”  He looked down at Danny and gave him a wink.  “For a Badger.”


End file.
